Policy & Practice | Fall 2024

Child Welfare Agency: Using AI for effective policy management. A state child welfare agency is dedicated to protecting children and families. To achieve this mission, they rely on effective policy management, ensuring that policies are up-to-date, accessible, and easily understood by all stakeholders. The agency used AI to transform policy management, making it a produc tive and efficient process. Working with IBM, they introduced an AI assistant that provided instantaneous access to relevant policy information, reducing the need for tedious and error-prone searches, and the risk of misinterpreta tion. Employees can also access policies at the moment they need them without extensive research or technical exper tise, making policy management a productive and user-friendly experience. The AI assistant is just the beginning of the potential impact of AI in paving the way for a more efficient, trans parent, and effective Child Welfare service. The agency looks to leverage AI for more innovative applications in policy management and for other use cases in the future. In Summary AI is here. And human services agencies are ready to begin their AI journeys. They should start with big goals, epic visions, and ambitious aspi rations from the beginning, but also remember that this is a journey: To create an AI-driven enterprise, early initiatives will reap value incremen tally. The AI landscape is constantly changing, and maintaining continual momentum and progress is key. Business impact is a measurable objec tive that should be tracked from the start. Executive commitment, continuity of support, and collaboration across the enterprise and over the lifespan of the project, especially between the business and IT, is essential. With the human–AI tandem approach, government agencies are on the precipice of creating a mind shift in the way their organizations work. With big ideas, measurable objectives, strategic executive leadership, and alignment of business and IT teams, this AI journey will be a success.

To drive a successful solution with meaningful organization and commu nity impact, the business and IT must each take responsibility for appropriate aspects of the initiative and the related decisions—the business to lead and define objectives, and IT to design and implement a technology solution. IT departments are the enablers, not the drivers. And just as it is not IT’s responsibility to establish business objectives, it is not the business’s respon sibility to drive technology decisions or specific tool selections. Each party’s role is critical and essential to building and steering the AI ship in the right direction. A partnership in which both parties are fully aligned on their respec tive roles and responsibilities is key. An Outline for AI Initiative Success Following are outlines of recent, suc cessful AI initiatives IBM has completed. State Health Agency: A long-term vision and commitment from the start paid off. A state health agency had a vision of providing the best customer service in government. Through executive perspective and planning, the agency established a long-term strategy with

a roadmap, a sustained budget, and a plan to implement their vision. They developed a multiphase, multiyear roadmap to implement an AI-driven customer experience. Working with IBM, the agency conducted Design Thinking sessions that established inclusive stakeholder engagement across the organiza tion to refine the vision and define specific goals. The project provided multichannel and multilingual inter active, self-service capabilities for clients. These user-focused experi ences automated millions of client interactions, significantly reducing the cost of unnecessary human interac tions. Together with IBM, the agency delivered a modernized customer expe rience to improve customer service, staff efficiency, and agency KPIs. Their approach committed to long term success by continuously tracking measurable outcomes against their defined business goals to prove the ongoing value of the AI initiative from Day One. This approach was expanded across programs and is now positioned for long-term deployment across future programs. The agency, its programs, and most important, its clients, are positioned to continue reaping the benefits of this initiative into the future.

Images by Chris Campbell via DALL-E

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Fall 2024 Policy & Practice